“Just Me and You” Mother/Daughter Eastern 9/30

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Warning: Very long, as we had such a marvelous time I want to re-live every moment writing this!

Finally! It’s my turn to write a trip report! After seven months of planning, it is happening to us! Let me first just say thanks to everyone on the DIS Boards for their tips and suggestions! We booked in February and I checked the boards AT LEAST twice a day! I love reading the trip reports and thought I would take a stab at it. I still have one suitcase left to unpack and have been doing laundry since yesterday afternoon dreading going back to work in the morning and need a break already.

Cast of characters: Me (39) and DD Baylee (age 7 turning 8 on the cruise). A bit of background on us: I am a single mom, newly divorced; however, have been separated for quite some time. We hadn’t been on vacation for five LONG years. Baylee was at Disney World on her 3rd birthday, but doesn’t remember it. It was time for us to FINALLY do this. I have been talking for a couple years about a Disney cruise but alas, being a single mom the funds are never there. I’ve been saving forever, it seems!

When it was time to book, I wanted to book the Western because I really wanted to do Grand Cayman. After checking the dates, prices, etc., I thought it would be a marvelous idea to take Baylee for her 8th birthday, which is October 2. So I ended up booking the Eastern instead and I lucked out because it was the cheapest week, price wise! Well, except for it being hurricane season and all! I also booked the cheapest room, a Category 12. I was hearing stories on the boards of upgrades but didn’t hold out much hope for that. We hadn’t been having good luck lately, but as I was to find out, our luck would be changing!

I thought we’d go down a day early and spend the day with my ex-in-laws who haven’t seen Baylee in 3 years. My ex and I have a very amicable relationship for the sake of Baylee, and his parents are no exception. I’ve always gotten along well with “the in-laws”. They live in Tampa, and said that they would love to pick us up at the airport and spend the day/evening with us and drop us off at the ship Saturday morning. I made reservations at the Doubletree Cocoa Beach and they got a room along with my ex’s sister (who Baylee adores), who also lives down there.

In June, we took a weekend and went up to the North Shore (Duluth, MN) to visit my sister and her family. My sister and I decided to go to the casino that night (I hadn’t been in a couple years). Like I said before, I am on a budget and had to save, save, save! My sister wanted to take me out because it was “divorce day”, the day it was final. The first $20 I spent DING DING DING, I hit the royal flush on a poker machine and won $1,400! Paid off the cruise, put some $$ down on our shipboard account and saved some for airfare! Woo hoo! Pixie dust already!

I waited and waited for low airfare from Minneapolis, but started getting nervous in July when prices weren’t coming down. I wanted to fly non-stop with Sun Country, but when it came time to book, they were $100 more! Yikes – I was on a budget! I would rather spend that $100 on the ship! I ended up booking with Air-Tran Airways. Non-stop on the way down and one short stop in Chicago on the way back. Then I priced airfare a week before cruising and Sun Country was $30 cheaper than I paid. You just never know, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

A month out from our cruise, Baylee and I made the requisite 30-day chain. She was so excited she could spit (as was I). My favorite commercial is the Disney one where the kids “are too excited to sleep”. Mom goes to bed and asks dad if he’s awake, to which he replies, “I’m too excited to sleep.” That was definitely us! I know I was driving my co-workers crazy and had a countdown at work posted in my cube LOL. They were definitely ready to get rid of me! Baylee and I scoured the DIS boards reading trip reports, looking at pictures and imagining the food we were going to eat! We both are chocoholics! I went on a diet and lost 31 pounds, knowing that I was going to gain a few back on this trip! I called Shirley at the Perfect Gift and ordered Baylee’s birthday basket (which I managed to keep a surprise) and informed her Baylee loved all things Tink just like every other little girl under 10 (and maybe over, I think). Since the cruise was her birthday present, I thought it would be nice to have a little gift waiting for her when we got there that she could “open”.

I had been checking the cruise site daily for our room assignment (who am I kidding, I checked it daily just to look at it), and one morning it was there! We had been upgraded to a Category 9! A couple weeks later, we received our docs and it was there in black & white – Category 9. I actually got teary-eyed (I am such a sap as you will soon find out). More pixie dust for us! This was actually going to happen, wasn’t it? We were actually going to put away our cares for 7 glorious days on the Caribbean and think of no one but us! The “Just Me and You Cruise” was born!

Next up, overcoming our fear of flying, the in-laws and embarkation………………

 

[cmsnyder77]

Can't wait to hear your report! My DD will be 7 in January and we are going on our first cruise over Easter next yr - 7 day Western. I am also a single divorced mother and am very excited to do this with her. I haven't told her yet that we're going - she just knows we'll go "sometime".

 

[yazee1]

Sheila, I love reading trip reports like this one. I can't wait to read more.

 

[DeloreanGirl]

$1,400!!!!! That's AMAZING!!! WOW!!!


And, 31 pounds off! That's also amazing!!!!

Happy with your in-laws?! Holy cow!!

I can't wait to read the rest of this story, it already sounds like it's off to an incredible start!

 

[kimmcbee]

Keep up the good work, it was great meeting you and Baylee on the ship. She is a great girl, you are very lucky. Tell her the boys say hello.

 

[Marypoppinsiam]

How exciting for both of you! Can't wait to hear more about your great adventures.

 

[tjeagle]

Good things do happen to good people! What a heartwarming opening post!

 

[curlybop]

What a great start to the report!

 

[dreamcometrue]

can't wait to read more!!

 

[jrose529]

Great start! I can't wait for more.

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Thursday before I checked in, I found out that Airtran changed my flight and I was now leaving at 1:30 instead of 10:00. I was a little disappointed, as I really wanted Baylee to spend some time with Grandma & Grandpa. I also was mad because they didn’t bother calling or e-mailing me. On the other hand, we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn for an early flight. All was well and I wasn’t going to let this ruin my vacation.

Friday morning dawned bright and early. Baylee’s Godmother was to pick us up for the airport at 9:30 and we were going to stop for breakfast. I had been done packing most of our stuff the weekend before and just had to drop in the last minute items that morning. Made it much easier! Two suitcases and one garment bag later (geez, she’s 7 – how did she become such a fashion diva?), we were ready to fly.

FLY? You mean we have to FLY? I had forgotten about that part. Ever since I was little, I have had a fear of heights and flying. I have been a white-knuckled intoxicated passenger many times in my years (did I mention I am 39 and on the verge of the big 4-0 and a huge mid-life crisis?). What was I going to do to make sure Baylee stays calm, when I didn’t know how to calm myself down??!! How was I going to pull this one off? The last time I flew was three weeks after 9/11 and I was so scared I thought I was going to pee my pants. I took a Dramamine and hoped for the best. Baylee tends to get car sick once in a while, so I made her take a Dramamine too. I made sure I checked with the pediatrician before and he said it was a go. But mom, it’s not liquid. I couldn’t find the liquid, so please just swallow the pill. But mom, it’s not liquid. I don’t have liquid, DARLING, so please just put it in and swallow it BEFORE I PUT IT IN FOR YOU!!!! Well, that wasn’t happening so I smashed it up and put it in some orange juice and she drank it.

Did I mention Baylee did not receive the patience gene from me? She received the impatient one from her dad. I had visions of her being impatient in character lines, impatient at dinner, impatient at the airport, you get the idea. I warned her daily of “learning patience before the cruise”. Yeah, right, mom. AS IF! After 10 years with her father and one Disney cruise with her, I think I now have the impatient gene as well!

Anyway, she was excited, as she had been chatting with a couple girls around her age on the DIS boards and was excited to meet them as well. After breakfast at Perkins, we were off to the airport. Security was a breeze and the airport wasn’t very busy at all. Our plane seemed to have very few people on it. Smooth flying and we were arriving in Orlando at 5:45 STARVING! I sure miss those in-flight little meals.

Met the in-laws and went to our hotel, the Doubletree Oceanfront. Grandpa asked why I picked the hotel and I said, I don’t know, I heard they had great chocolate chip cookies. I thought he was going to run us off the road. Well, they do have great chocolate chip cookies. We went out to eat at Beef O’ Brady’s. Baylee and Grandpa played the claw machine, we ate and went back to the hotel. Since we arrived so late, it was dark. Grandpa and Baylee took a dip in the pool and I promised her a walk on the beach in the morning before breakfast.

I was awake at the crack of dawn (which would continue throughout the trip). We all were up and ready by 8 and went down to the beach for a little while. I got some great shots of Baylee and Grandpa chasing waves. We went to breakfast at Zachary’s family restaurant, which was good. Since in-laws paid for the room and dinner, I paid for breakfast. We had to make a quick stop at Wal-Greens for Dramamine (forgot mine at Perkins) and water and then it was on to the cruise terminal.

Our first glimpse of the ship was unbelievable! In fact, Grandma said, “I don’t know who is more excited” LOL! Pulled up to the terminal, they dropped us off and each gave Baylee some $$$ for her birthday, which of course was AWESOME, as she put it!

I had already checked in online, but had to fill out the forms again for some reason. Oh, well, not entirely too bad. Didn’t have to stand in a long line for check-in. It was a breeze and the CM handed me two lanyards and four pins. I grabbed them and put them in our carry-on. I went over to the kids’ club registration, as I wanted to change Baylee to the lab rather than the club since she was going to be 8 in two days. THAT line was EXTREMELY long. By the time we were through that line, they were boarding. We had boarding #8 and it didn’t take long and we were on the ship by 12:00.

Went immediately to the Mickey pool as Baylee wanted to check out the slide. She quickly made some new friends. Neither one of us were hungry, so we sat by the Mickey Pool. Well, I sat and she swam. I grabbed a couple of sodas and called my parents and my sister and rubbed it in a little. It was really hot outside. At 1:30 we went down to our stateroom and was AWED! Baylee was SOOOOOO excited to see her gift basket. THANKS Shirley! Also, we had a Castaway Club gift on our bed. More pixie dust! I was wondering about this, since this was the first time we cruised. I looked at our KTTW cards and lanyards. Both said Castaway Club. Hmmmm……. Someone screwed up somewhere. We received an invitation to the CC party, but declined to go since I think I may have been pushing it!

We didn’t have any luggage yet so decided to walk around the ship for a little while. Went back to our room and our luggage starting arriving bit by bit and was all there by 3:30. Our stateroom hostess was Nova and she was WONDERFUL! Went to the safety drill which was HOT and pretty uneventful. Headed up to deck 9 since Baylee wanted to be up front and center for the Sailaway Party. She had a blast. When the horn went off, we headed up to deck 10 to check out the waving CM’s with the Mickey hands. Cute! I got a drink at the bar up there but it was not very good. I threw half of it away.

We had PLA dining rotation at 5:45. Went back to the room and got ready for dinner in Parrot Cay. kimmcbee from the boards and her family were our tablemates for the week. Hi Kim! Baylee says tell the boys hi! They were a great group and quite entertaining for the week. I ordered the ribeye and Baylee and mac & cheese (which would be the habit for the week). She also ordered NOTHING for dessert. Our server was Densak and our Asst. Server was Paz. Paz was awesome, Densak not so. Densak brought Baylee a plate with NOTHING written in chocolate. She sure got a kick out of that. And of course proceeded to scrape the chocolate up with her fingers. I don’t know, maybe its just me, but those dinners were annoying for two long hours! It’s just too long with the kids in my opinion. By the end my patience had run out and so had Baylee's! The food was outstanding, though. While we were walking out of the restaurant, I heard my name being called and it was squirrelgirl with her DD who Baylee had been chatting with on the boards. We stopped and the girls met and we chatted a bit and off we went back to our room to change and get ready for the Welcome Aboard show. I got a kick out of Baylee though, “Mom, you didn’t pay for our food”. “I don’t have to”. “You mean it’s FREE???”. “Yeah, baby, it’s free.” She just couldn’t get over the fact all week that we didn’t have to pay for food!

We went up to the theatre and we ran into squirrelgirl again and the girls sat together for the show. The show was pretty cute. After the show, we saw Lilo in the lobby and got our picture with Donald. We were pretty exhausted and went back up to the room. We had a swan towel animal and Baylee loved that. We were prepared to sleep together in the big bed, but the couch was turned down with her blanky and stuffed animal on it and she got the biggest kick out of that and said she was going to sleep there. Big bed for me! We ordered chocolate chip cookies and milk from room service. I didn’t know it, but if you don’t specify what milk you want, they give you WHOLE milk. I haven’t drank whole milk since I was a kid. We ended up just dunking our cookies (which are OUT OF THIS WORLD) in it. It tasted like cream! Baylee fell asleep watching Brother Bear and I drifted off to sleep as well.

Next up, our first day at sea and formal night…………………….

 

[DeloreanGirl]

Two suitcases and one garment bag later (geez, she’s 7 – how did she become such a fashion diva?), we were ready to fly.

FLY? You mean we have to FLY? I had forgotten about that part. Ever since I was little, I have had a fear of heights and flying. I have been a white-knuckled intoxicated passenger many times in my years (did I mention I am 39 and on the verge of the big 4-0 and a huge mid-life crisis?). What was I going to do to make sure Baylee stays calm, when I didn’t know how to calm myself down??!! How was I going to pull this one off? The last time I flew was three weeks after 9/11 and I was so scared I thought I was going to pee my pants. I took a Dramamine and hoped for the best. Baylee tends to get car sick once in a while, so I made her take a Dramamine too. …

From one white-knuckled flyer to another......

 

[JDBlair]

I love your TR thus far. Congrats on being able to take this trip for the two of you. It'll be something you treasure for the rest of your lives!

 

[MB MinnieGirl]

I am LOVING your TR!! From one single mom to another I can totally relate - aren't mother/daughter cruises THE BEST!!!!

Thanks for taking the time to write. I know it's not easy trying to fit it in the schedule but it's a lot of fun reliving it!

Kelly

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Thanks for the warm regards, guys! At lunch right now trying to fight a sore throat/cold that I think I'm getting. I am going to post a few pics of our first day to tide you over until I get to my next round tonight. I may actually post TWO days, but don't get your hopes up,

Sunrise swimming in Cocoa Beach with Grandpa

Goofy and Baylee - love at first site

Baylee at the terminal

Wandering the ship the first day

 

[lindaso]

Great trip report so far. I can't wait to read the rest. I had to laugh at the guy with the pink backpack in your terminal picture it's his color!!

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 2 at Sea

I was up at 6:45 this morning. I had ordered coffee and juice from room service the night before, but not until 7:30. I turned on the TV to check things out and ended up watching the end of Narnia again. Soon she was awake. Baylee wanted to go to the Goofy pool so we went up to Topsiders and had the buffet, which I thought was just okay. Baylee had the Mickey waffles and so did I. I thought they were good. Headed off to the Goofy Pool and there were only a few people there. It was about 9:00am. Spent the better part of the morning there. Ran into squirrelgirls’s DD and went to the Mickey Pool with her family. The weather started getting a little stormy and lightning was around so they closed the Mickey Pool. The girls then ended up going to the lab, which was in the Stack at this time. I told Baylee I would pick her up for lunch. She wanted to know what I was going to do, and I had to report back to her what I did. She was so worried that I wouldn’t have a good time! On a side note, I absolutely HATED picking her up and dropping her off, and was thankful that she only went a couple of times. Sometimes the lines were 15-20 minutes long!

I ended up walking around the ship taking pictures and headed back to the room. Went and picked her up for lunch and she said the lab was fun, but didn’t really like that it was in the Stack. Went to Parrot Cay for lunch buffet, which was pretty good, but felt there weren’t a lot of selections for the kids. Caught the Mickey line on the way to our room to get our suits on. It wasn’t very long this time. Actually, I didn’t think the character lines were very long and went fast. I kept thinking to myself and said to several people that I didn’t think there were that many people on board. At the last show on Friday the cruise director, Rachel, said there were 2600.

Baylee wanted to go see if the pools were open yet, so back up to the Goofy Pool we went. This became habit and our home away from home for the week as it turned out. For some reason, she really didn’t like the lab. Even with her friend she found onboard (who liked going to the labs) she just didn’t want to go. She is very outgoing and I was surprised at this. I think with the divorce and all, she is really worried about me having a good time and I really think that she thought I wouldn’t have a good time without her. It was totally fine, as we found our time occupied with the pool and other family things throughout the week. This was HER birthday cruise and I told her to do what she wanted to do!

I thought the Goofy Pool was fabulous on Sunday, as I’m a huge NFL fan and football was playing on the Jumbotron at the pool Granted, it wasn’t the Vikings but it was football. Some lady even leaned over and said to me, “I can’t believe they’re showing FOOTBALL with all these kids around”. I leaned back and whispered, “Guess what, I LOVE IT and those kids aren’t even paying attention – they are swimming!” I even had to take a picture of it to show the gang at work (I'm on the work Fantasy Football League ) Speaking of the Goofy Pool, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS TO THE KIDS SWIMMING IN THE GOOFY POOL???!!! Can they read? NO JUMPING! Ugh! This became a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I must’ve said under my breath “where is your mother?” 100 times during the week! Spent a couple hours there and headed up to Rockin Bar D for Bingo. I had heard a lot about it from the DIS boards, but frankly I was unimpressed. It was fun and all, Baylee had a good time. I thought it was way overpriced for what you got. Didn’t win anything of course.

After bingo went back to the room to get ready for formal night. We were eating in Lumiere’s and I was excited. I live in jeans and don’t get a chance to dress up very often. My co-workers saw our formal night picture and couldn’t believe it was me. I guess I clean up well! I had the baked halibut which was very good. Baylee loved the attention Paz gave her at dinner and it seemed everyone who worked there called her Princess, honey or sweetheart and she loved it. Granted, I am sure they call every other little girl that but to her it was special and I was so glad that she felt special. Baylee was looking forward to the Golden Mickey’s and wanted to wear our dressy clothes to the show, which we did. We met up with squirrelgirls's family again and watched the show. The show was good and we both had a great time. After the show, she had her picture taken with Cinderella and Minnie Mouse.

She was exhausted and we went up to the room. It became a habit for her walking in the hallway to the room at night saying, “I wonder what the towel animal is tonight, mommy”. That first night I kinda had tears in my eyes because I am such a sap. She was having such a good time and I was so glad that I was able to do this for her. Next week, I would be the MEAN MOM again, but for this week I was much loved! We couldn’t figure out what the towel animal was that night. Baylee thought it was some kind of bird, so I agreed. I ordered cereal, toast and coffee for the morning after she fell fast asleep, for tomorrow was to be her birthday and she wanted room service breakfast. Who was I to tell her no? I dug out her birthday decorations, and was hoping I would run into Nova to tell her to put them up when we left! It wasn’t long before I too, fell fast asleep……..

 

[suzannef]

Your formal picture is BEAUTIFUL. You look so happy together too I have an 8 year old dd too and she wore the same shirt on the day we boarded last month and she has the same blue eyes and she just donanted her hair to locks of love so has the same haircut. I'm loving reading your report!!!!

Suzanne

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 3 at Sea and Baylee's Birthday


I woke up at 4:45am and just could not go back to sleep. I found the “Report from the Bridge” channel, and watched that for a while. Yeah, I know, lame. But I like to see what's going on. I found it interesting how many miles we traveled and how many we had to get to a port. Also watched Golden Mickey’s again. Baylee woke up around 7 and our breakfast was delivered at 7:30. I just ordered some cold cereal, fruit and muffins. Room service brought Baylee a birthday cake! Her day was off to a great start! I had brought a “Birthday Girl” pin for her to wear all day.

She wanted to go to the Goofy Pool this morning (I’m sure you’re surprised with that one). We were there by 8:30am and the first ones in the pool! I went in with her and the crowd didn’t start coming until we were leaving at about 11:00. We loved that Playhouse Disney was on in the mornings at the Goofy Pool. I keep hearing “Oh Toodles” in my sleep!

Baylee wanted to eat lunch in Lumiere’s so off we went. This was, by far, her favorite restaurant. Mine too, as I have a weakness for Beauty and the Beast. Our server was Paroaj (sp) from Thailand. He was awesome and sang happy birthday to her. She ordered chicken tenders and fries, and he cut up her chicken and started feeding her! It was so funny! She thought he was so weird! I had the mahi mahi sandwich which was excellent! We stopped in the lobby on the way to the Buena Vista Theatre to get her pic taken with Stitch and Alice and the White Rabbit.

The plan was to see POTC 2 which she hadn’t seen before. I had, and was secretly a little worried about her because she doesn’t do too well in long movies and the first one she liked, but was scared a little. IMO, I thought POTC 2 was scarier than the first. HOWEVER, POTC is my favorite all time movie and I’ve seen it 15 times. I wanted to see POTC 2 again (number 2). We got there a little early (1:00 matinee) and got great seats. The theatre filled up very quickly (note to anyone going to shows or movies – get there early!) About an hour and a half into the movie (the part where Will Turner goes aboard the Flying Dutchman) she was scared and wanted to go.

We walked around taking pictures and going through Shutters to check out and buy our formal night picture, complete with frame and character formal picture on the other side. I am such a sucker for great pictures and vowed that would be my only picture purchase. Silly, silly me. I was in the process of trying to talk her into going to the lab because they were making chocolate chip cookies later and doing towel animals. She didn’t want to go. We were walking to our room when we ran into squirrelgirl who was on the same floor as us. Our room was on the 2nd floor right near the midship elevators. Very convenient. Baylee asked where her DD was and she said she was in the lab making towel animals and chocolate chip cookies. She said that she would try it. Brought her up to the lab and the line was soooooo long. They were starting the towel animals while we were in line. That would leave me about two hours before I had to start getting ready for dinner. I was going to head to the adult pool!

I went to the pool and read my book for a while, and it was so peaceful I really wish I would’ve had more time there. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. I then decided to go back to the room to get ready for dinner and then head up to the lab to pick her up. I got to the lab and it was about 4:40. They weren’t done making cookies yet, so I snuck back out and told them I would be back in 20 minutes. When I went back, she was sitting off to the side holding her tummy like it hurt. She said that she paged me (must’ve been while I was in the elevator on the way up to get her – pager was in the room ). I asked her if she had a good time and she said yes. You have to know my daughter. If she doesn’t like what she is doing, sometimes she does the “headache” or “tummy-ache” thing. Very dramatic. We started to leave and she panicked – I want my cookie. Sor-ry! So she made sure she had her cookie before we left. So much for the tummy-ache! That was to be her last time in the lab. Also, I asked how the towel animal thing went and she said that they didn't allow her to do it because she was late getting there! What is up with that??? We were IN LINE when they started. That kinda ticked me off. Couldn't she sit in and watch? Oh well, on to other things.

We went back to the room to get her ready for dinner. It was at Animator’s Palate tonight and she was very excited for her birthday dinner. Nova had put the birthday decorations up and put a happy birthday sign out on our door from housekeeping. Baylee got a kick out of that! We had a knock on our door and it was squirrelgirl and DD with a gift for Baylee – how wonderful! Hi Kendall if you’re reading this. They were just great people! We went to dinner and I had the filet mignon and Baylee had mac & cheese and fries. The smoked salmon appetizer was awesome as well. The serving team brought her a cake and sang happy birthday to her as well as our tablemates. After dinner, kimmcbee’s mom brought her to Treasure Ketch to buy her an ankle bracelet! Again, very nice people.

The show tonight was Twice Charmed. I am probably going to be flamed for this, but I thought the show was just so-so. Baylee LOVED it and that’s what counts. After the show we caught Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer. Cute spinoff of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. We weren’t picked (I was secretly hoping we weren’t, as I would’ve had to go up there with her – not a good thing as far as I’m concerned ). She got her picture taken with Dopey and Snow White and we headed up to the room, as tomorrow was St. Martin and Pirate Night. We wanted to get our beauty sleep! Our towel animal was a stingray! Baylee was hungry and wanted to order pizza. We did, and it seemed like room service took extra long that night. By the time they came, Baylee had fallen fast asleep! But not before she said to me, "Mommy, this was the best birthday I ever had". You guessed it

Her birthday couldn’t have been more wonderful and there was another tear that snuck out of me while I was watching her sleep, thinking how special the day was for her and hoping she would remember it when she got older. I wanted the week to slow down – it was already almost Tuesday!

Next up St. Martin, Captain Jack and Pirate Night………..

 

[squirrelgirl]

Hi Shelia! Of course I am reading your trip report! I am loving it!!! I am going to email you later with some pictures of the girls. To all of the folks reading this this trip report...Shelia is such an amazing Mom, and Miss Baylee is just a doll! It was so wonderful spending time with you! I am just loving reading this report...getting to see so much all over again. I just adore the picture of Baylee and the serving team celebrating her birthday. Baylee's expression is priceless!

I am so glad you are home safe and that you caught the earlier flight back home (read it in another post). I was thinking about you guys so much last Saturday. My heart was just breaking for her while we were standing in line to disembark. I want to apologize for not coming over and saying good-bye. I didn't want to make the good-byes any harder. (I am sure you folks reading this comment will understand what I mean in one of the later reports).

Spending time with you and Baylee was absolutely one of the best parts of the trip...it is so much fun to share in the fun together. Watching our daughters hug when they first met was just priceless. Maddie adores Baylee! As everyone here probably knows, seeing your child light up and watching them enjoy this great once in a lifetime experience is something we as parents will treasure forever. Shelia...it was so wonderful sharing that with you!

Talk with you soon, Kendall